What Went Wrong
The New York Jets kicked the season off with a hot 5-1 start. Things were looking good...Until they weren't. The last 20-25 games have been pretty tough. Some will say "HeY bRo ItS cUz YoUr ScHeDuLe GoT hArDeR" but to that we say: cool story bro, sit down Joey. Working 40-70 hours a week, focusing on school and trying to graduate with 2 bachelors, one in psychology and one in political science, being a husband and father. Add into that trying to buy you very first house in the current market and you've got your hands full.
The play-calling and execution got sloppy. Hell even the gameplay got sloppy as we got hit with some suspensions. Stanley Wagner sat out 2 games last season as we got hit with a suspension for running up the score. That negated any opportunity for our QB to dev up and get that illustrious X-Factor. The following season we ended up not hitting the rush minimums in our frustrating week 2 loss to the Broncos. We reported ourselves and QB Wagner had to sit 3 games. It didn't matter too much though as we won went on a little run with our backup. But after that, it was all down hill. The playbook disappeared. Literally. Upon trying to adjust the offensive playbook it was accidentally saved over and lost for good. It was time to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch. With the season already under way and time limited we ran a stock playbook with very minor changes. Boy did it show up come game time. Everything was different. The confidence was at an all time low. The throws were off, the reads were bad, the situational awareness was bad, the Jets were bad. Here is a look at some of the stats from the season:
Offensive Stats
QBs:
Wagner & Long - 4863 Yards 40 Touchdowns 50 Interceptions
RB: Clifton - Rushing: 846 Yards 7 Touchdowns / Receiving: 516 Yards 1 Touchdown Johnson & Lawrence - 455 Yards 5 Touchdowns
WRs: Garrison - 1459 Yards 12 Touchdowns
Mims - 900 Yards 12 Touchdowns
Bayless - 766 Yards 2 Touchdowns
Moulton - 743 Yards 9 Touchdowns
Defensive Stats
LBs: Smith 101 Tackles 58 Tackles 18 Tackles For Loss 4 Interceptions
Taylor 101 Tackles 55 Tackles 12 Tackles for Loss 4 Sacks 4 Interceptions
Defensive Line:
Speaks 52 Tackles 12 Tackles for Loss 11 Sacks 2 Forced Fumbles Patterson 43 Tackles 6 Tackles for Loss 9 Sacks 1 Forced Fumble Reader 35 Tackles 11 Tackles for Loss 1.5 Sacks
Secondary: Wright 78 Tackles 7 Interceptions 1 Touchdown
Jackson 76 Tackles 6 Interceptions 1 Touchdown
Love 77 Tackles 4 Interceptions Mullens 65 Tackles 1 Interception
Guidry 55 Tackles 2 Interceptions
A Deeper Look
5th fewest team rushing yards - 1402
4th fewest team rushing touchdowns
4th fewest first downs on offense - 230
5th most points allowed
5th most pass yards allowed
Turnover differential -20 / Giveaways 55
Offensive redzone percentage 76%
Defensive redzone percentage 86%
Getting Back On Track
We need to improve the pass rush. Old man Chandler Jones is far too old to make any sort of impact anymore as he combined for 9 sacks over the last 2 seasons. We have 1 threat on the edge and on threat from the interior and that just simply is not enough to compete in this league. All our stars are resigned. Armed with a bit of cap space and FOUR 2nd round picks, we'll have plenty of ammo to make some moves. We have got to go back to the basics. Stop trying to do too much. Play our game our way. Run the ball, rush the opposing QB and play defense. This cycle we are floating at a 42.5% win rate and that simply isn't good enough. The clock is ticking. There aren't too many seasons left. Time to start locking in. School is over. Work has calmed down. The house has been bought. No excuses.